Cuomo's Independence Party Shenanigans

Two NY Post reports that make you wonder what deals Governor Cuomo made for the Independence Party ballot line.

First:

ALBANY — Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino refused to give a top Independence Party leader a patronage job in exchange for the party’s ballot line, he claimed Friday.

Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption panel had conducted a preliminary probe of accusations that Westchester Independence Party chairman Giulio Cavallo was trading jobs for endorsements.
Astorino, a Republican now running for governor, says he was told in 2009 that he’d have to find a job for Cavallo if he wanted his party’s endorsement.

“Chairman Cavallo demanded that I give him a job with benefits after the 2009 election,” Astorino told The Post. “I had been told by multiple sources that Mr. Cavallo has a history of shaking down public officials for no-show jobs. I refused to hire him, and the Independence Party dropped its support of me right there and then.”

And:

A political dissident who asked Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption panel to look into a top Independence Party official thinks the way things turned out just stinks.

Two months after Tom Reddy’s last interview with an investigator, the commission closed for business — and soon after Cuomo won the Independence Party ballot line.

“They were looking into it. The next thing you know, the Moreland Commission was disbanded and Cuomo gets the Independence Party endorsement,” said Reddy, a former West­ches­ter detective.

In a letter to the panel and Cuomo last August, Reddy pleaded for an investigation of Westchester Independence Party leader Giulio Cavallo.

“Mr. Cavallo has been boasting for years about his ability to squeeze elected officials for patronage jobs in exchange for the IP party line,” Reddy wrote.

He also claimed Cavallo personally benefited by holding down a number of government jobs “for which he has done no work.”

Initially, Reddy said the Moreland Commission panel took his charges seriously.

He said he was contacted by chief investigator Robert Addolorado in December 2013 and again in January 2014.

In March, the commission was disbanded.

In May, the Independence Party endorsed Cuomo for re-election.

“It was amazing, we didn’t hear anything [back]. Now the commission is defunct,” Reddy said.

A commission source confirmed it was looking into no-show patronage scams to determine if people got phony full-time or part-time jobs to qualify for state pension and health benefits.

“There were multiple targets,” the source said.

Records show Cavallo has held several state jobs. From 1999 to 2005 he was a “project coordinator” for the state Health Department with a salary of $87,366. From 2005 to 2009, he served as a “community aide” on the payroll of the state Senate making about $50,000 a year. From 2009 to the present, Cavallo was a “special health adviser” to the state Senate, making about $57,000 a year.

His workplace in Manhattan is at 250 Broadway, across from City Hall.

But a former employee in that same office said she has never seen him and doesn’t know who he is.

“I have never heard of this fellow. This fellow’s name does not ring a bell with me at all,” said Judith Stupp, former downstate coordinator for Senate Republicans.

Cavallo claims the second story was planted by the Astorino campaign to make both the Independence Party and Cuomo look bad.

I have no doubt that's true.

Nonetheless that doesn't take away the impact of both stories - Astorino says he was shaken down for the Independence Party ballot line in the past and Cuomo received the Independence Party ballot line this time around after the Moreland Commission, which was looking into possible corruption of Independence Party officials, was disbanded.

As Arsenio Hall used to say back in the day - "Things that make you go 'Hmmmm...'"

Steve Kornacki: Cuomo Re-Election Is Immaterial, What Matters Is What Happens Legally

Steve Kornacki at MSNBC talking to Blake Zeff, Salon Politics Editor, and Peter Henning, Wayne State Law Professor and former federal prosecutor, about the Cuomo/Moreland scandal:

With a federal prosecutor involved now in looking around, it almost becomes immaterial whether he survives and by what margin this fall politically because the big question here is whether something is going to happen legally, whether that's an actual case that is pursued or just a damning or scathing report or something along those lines. So this is very much a "To Be Continued" story that we'll have to keep a close eye on.

With Cuomo MIA for a fourth straight day after the NY Times published their Moreland piece, perhaps this is what Sheriff Andy is brooding over in whatever darkened room he now inhabits.

Cuomo Meddled With His Other Commissions And Panels Too

Michael Grunwald reports in TIME Magazine that the Moreland Commission tackling public corruption is not the first time Andrew Cuomo has meddled in one of his panels:

Before New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set up a supposedly independent commission to investigate political corruption in Albany—a commission he later shut down after it began poking around his own operations, a commission that is now causing him serious political headaches that could become legal headaches—he set up a supposedly independent commission to investigate the state’s electric utilities.

Mark Green, Cuomo’s fellow Democrat and onetime political opponent, says he was surprised when Cuomo tapped him to serve on the utility commission in November 2012. He says he was less surprised when Cuomo’s aides quickly began pushing the commission to propose privatizing the dysfunctional Long Island Power Authority, which was still struggling to get the lights back on after Superstorm Sandy. Several sources confirm the governor’s office pressured the commission to issue a report recommending privatization less than two months after its creation, and that Green threatened to resign when a Cuomo press release incorrectly suggested the recommendation had been unanimous.

“Independent?” Green said. “They tried to ram privatization down our throats. I told them I wasn’t going to be a fig leaf for Andrew.”

A spokesperson for Cuomo declined to comment.

Similarly one of the members of Cuomo's Common Core panel, teacher Todd Hathaway, revealed how the governor's staff had a pre-set outcome for the findings of the panel and wanted all members of the body to agree to them:

Teacher Todd Hathaway already exposed the shamery around the panel when he reported that panel heads were not interested in any dissenting views from what they had already decided would be in the preliminary report:

Todd Hathaway, a teacher at East Aora High School and a member of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Common Core panel, ripped the process today after the panel released its report last night.

The recommendations include what Cuomo wanted: holding students harmless for the tougher exams, but not a three-year moratorium on using the tests to evaluate teachers.

 ...

Hathaway said, “The report – and the process that produced it—is incomplete. the report was released suddenly, even as final comments were still being solicited. I had indicated the likelihood I would dissent and not allow the report to be spun as ‘consensus.’” Nevertheless, the report was issued with my name attached. I am very concerned that the report tries to make it seem like all the discussion had been completed.”

Here’s the rest of his statement:

“In fact, the Executive Office repeatedly ignored my concerns and the legitimate concerns of others about inappropriate state testing, the misuse of invalid tests for evaluations and the lack of transparency in state testing. The result is that some of the report’s conclusions and suggestions do not hold up to scrutiny. I wouldn’t accept this kind of work from my students and I don’t accept it here.”

“The failure to address testing and evaluation issues in a comprehensive way suggests the dynamics of the classroom will not change. The report seems to blame everybody else for the problems of the Common Core learning standards without adequately addressing the appropriateness of some of the standards and the testing that goes with it. This report should have addressed serious deficiencies in state testing. It should have discussed the lack of transparency in tests; the lack of diagnostic and prescriptive worth to teachers; the unacceptable delays in returning scores to school districts and the insanity of pretending there is validity to teacher ratings that are derived from student scores widely acknowledged to be invalid.”

“Finally, this panel should have recognized the need to pause in the use of assessments for high-stakes decisions for students and teachers. This would have allowed the State Education Department, as well as school districts, to refine the tests and testing materials; teachers to engage in the standards and develop a variety of lessons to meet them instead of just relying on modules; parents to understand the role and utility of data in education; and for teachers to receive the necessary professional development. Implementing massive curriculum changes do not just happen overnight. They take time. I fully support a delay in the use of tests in high-stakes decisions for students and teachers, but that issue was never fully explored. You can’t put students first if you put their teachers last.”

The games Cuomo played with the Moreland Commission are the same games he played with the LIPA Commission and the Common Core panel.

Cuomo uses these commissions as political cover to get something he wants through, then rigs the panels and commissions so that it all ends up the way he wants.

The difference between the LIPA Commission and the CCSS panel and the Moreland Commission is, Cuomo was screwing around with potential criminality when he dealt away the Moreland Commission in order to get some minor league ethics reforms in the budget agreement.

With the other two panels, he was simply rigging a process and engaging in political gamesmanship, not dealing away criminal investigations in some quid pro quo budget deal.

That's why Preet Bharara wasn't going to look into the LIPA Commission or the CCSS panel process, but he is looking into just what Cuomo engineered in the Moreland mess.

Perhaps Cuomo, emboldened by four years of successfully manipulating these commissions and panels to get the outcomes he wanted, thought nobody would blink at his Moreland machinations either.

If so, Cuomo was wrong about that.

When Does Governor Cuomo Surface?

It's been five days since Governor Cuomo appeared in public, three days since the now infamous NY Times/Moreland story revealed the extent of his administration's tampering into the Moreland Commission.

Capital Confidential puts all this in context:

It’s been five days since @NYGovCuomo has appeared in public. We are unable to find a weekday gap that long in recent public schedules.
— Capitol Confidential (@TUCapCon) July 25, 2014

Public sked for Saturday has Cuomo back in the fabled NYC area: Day Six without appearances.
— Capitol Confidential (@TUCapCon) July 26, 2014

The Astorino campaign has had some fun with Cuomo's disappearance:



Where is Andrew? from Rob Astorino on Vimeo.

I've had some fun on Twitter with this as well:

.@billyjoel Have you seen @NYGovCuomo? He seems to be missing ever since NY Times/Moreland piece. I'm very concerned!
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) July 25, 2014

Despite being whereabouts unknown, Cuomo hasn't completely gone silent - he's sent out more press releases than you'd ever want to read:

Cuomo has put out 22 news releases since Wed, the second highest Wed-Fri total from his office of any week in 2014 pic.twitter.com/n2n78q1CTN
— Bill Mahoney (@mahoneyw) July 25, 2014

Clearly Cuomo wants to send out the impression that all is well in Cuomoland, that he remains in command doing stuff even as he remains out of the public eye.

Quite frankly, I think it sends the opposite message, that he's desperate to change the subject all the while keeping out of sight to avoid having to answer any questions about Wednesday's Times/Moreland story.

In any case, he can't remain out of sight forever.

It's the summer, yes, so he's got some cover for staying hidden for now, but eventually he's got to come out of hiding.

I mean, even Mark Sanford came off the old Appalachian Trail eventually.

So, let's put the question out there:

When do you think Cuomo finally reappears in public?

And when do you think he finally takes questions about Moreland (since reappearing in public doesn't guarantee he takes questions.)

I'm betting he reappears riding his motorcycle with Billy Joel, then pulls a Reagan and makes believe he can't hear the press questions over the sounds of the motorcycle engines.

What say you out there?

When do we see Governor Cuomo in public again?

Microsoft Lays Off 18,000 Employees Based Not On Performance Or Worth To The Company, But By Algorithm

The people going after teacher tenure and seniority protections always claim that they want these gone so that when layoffs come, teachers can be retained based upon performance and value, not time with the district.

But according to one former employee, Microsoft - the company founded by one of the major opponents to teacher protections, Bill Gates - just let 18,000 people go randomly:

At the end of last week, Microsoft laid off 18,000 employees — some were laid off in a terribly insensitive memo written by Microsoft executive, Stephen Elop.

One of those fired employees was Jerry Berg, who worked at the company for 15 years as a software developer. Berg or “Barnacules” is also the creator of a popular YouTube channel, “Nergasm.” On Sunday, he took to YouTube to explain the devastating layoff and what losing Microsoft’s very comprehensive insurance plan means to his autistic son.

 ...

Berg stated, that the layoffs did not appear to be based on performance or worth to the company, and he jokingly speculates that an algorithm may have had a role.
“Somehow, some algorithm put me on a list, and that was the end of it,” Berg explained. “I’d like to think that I was probably laid off by a computer. A computer put me on a list for whatever reason and sent me packing.”

Berg says that some who were laid off were "people I know have personally saved the Windows project countless times" - nonetheless, out they went, with a severance package and key card access revoked as of Sunday.

Berg says his severance package was generous and will give him a few months to transition to new work but

That's very little consolation when you think about how many years you put into that company.  And it's one thing if you're a bad performer. If you're a bad performer and you're not doing much for the company, that's one thing. But I had a unique set of skills that I had honed over the years. I know a lot of the systems, a lot of the infrastructure, I've made myself a place, I've made myself a permanent fixture at Microsoft and somehow some algorithm just put me on a list and that was the end of it. Nobody went and looked at my track record, nobody went and looked at my performance, nobody went and figured out, 'Wait a second, this guy could be an asset elsewhere in the company, we should move him!" It was just easier for them to cut everybody that was on the list.

Think about all of this the next time you hear Gates or any of the other prominent corporate reformers talk about how important it is that districts be given the ability to lay off based upon "performance."

You can see Berg's full You Tube video below:

The Close Ties Between Christie And Cuomo

Zach Fink has more on the close ties between Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo in his State of Politics piece exploring why Christie, as head of the Republican Governors Association, may not be helping GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino against Governor Cuomo in this year's election:

Finally, there is the Cuomo-Christie connection. Astorino raised this on Tuesday, suggesting Cuomo may have helped Christie keep a lid on the Bridgegate scandal by remaining quiet and even claiming he knew nothing about it weeks after his handpicked Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye indentified the lane closures on the Fort Lee side of the GWB as a possible violation of law.  There are other connections between the two neighboring Governors as well. One of Christie’s top political strategists Mike DuHaime is an Partner at Mercury public affairs. Mike McKeon is also an Partner at Mercury, where he once headed up “Republicans for Cuomo” in 2010. McKeon also helped spearhead a “conversation” with Republicans for Governor Cuomo at the Harvard Club earlier this year.

So, the two Governors, who are known to talk frequently on the phone, do have some connections. After being snubbed by Christie in such a heavy-handed and mean-spirited way, it stands to reason that Astorino will no longer be reluctant to point those out going forward.

Last week I posted how Cuomo and Christie used Christie's Port Authority cronies - the same ones involved in Bridgegate - for some political gamesmanship around Port Authority bridge/tunnel toll hikes and a PATH fare increase.

That's another connection the two have - playing games with the Port Authority that are mutually beneficial for them politically.

Zack Fink makes pretty clear in his State of Politics piece that Christie has thrown support to some "lost causes" as head of the RGA, so whatever the reason Christie won't help Astorino now, it has nothing much to do with Astorino being down 37 points.

The more you learn about the ties between Christie and Cuomo, the more you have to think they're helping each other out.

What If There's No Legal Jeopardy For Cuomo In The Moreland Mess?

Nick Reisman writes "Three Reasons Why Moreland Won't Stick, And Why It Might."

He notes that the scandal is an insider baseball one, without hookers or indictments in the executive (at least so far), and the latest Siena poll shows "corruption" way down the list of public concerns in 2014.

He also notes that it's not clear if Cuomo administration tampering into the Moreland Commission constituted any law-breaking.

And he points out how, despite Cuomo opponents Rob Astorino and Zephyr Teachout jumping all over this mid-summer scandal news, Cuomo continues to have an overwhelming advantage in the election - he has $35 million in his campaign accounts and a 37 point lead over his GOP opponent, Astorino.

As of now the odds are that Cuomo, while sullied by the scandal, will not end up perp-walked to jail or lose his re-election bid.

But that doesn't mean Cuomo has not been hurt badly by the scandal:

If the odds hold and Cuomo is re-elected, he will likely face a vastly altered landscape in Albany come 2015. Republicans — including lawmakers he’s very closely with in the state Senate — may be out of power. An emboldened Democratic majority that has much to owe to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio could be in place, and the moderate governor may have to alter his calculations when it comes to what he can get accomplished in term two. Lawmakers in Albany have an increasingly short end of the stick when it comes to leverage and budget-making in recent years. The Moreland Commission morass could be the first, tangible diminution of power for Cuomo at the Capitol.

And that's my feeling about all of this right now.

I of course hope Larry Schwartz and Andrew Cuomo are both indicted by Preet Bharara on corruption, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges.

I am not holding my breath that will happen.

I of course hope Cuomo loses to Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic Primary.

I am not holding my breath that will happen.

I think Cuomo will be re-elected governor in November, but will face a second term where he will be diminished in power and diminished in stature.

The kind of stuff he pulled in the first term, like the Eva Moskowitz Budget of 2014, is less likely to happen in the second term because Cuomo's mojo will be gone, his Senate Republican and IDC allies are likely to be out of power and all the people that he screwed with during the first term are going to look to get even with him the second term.

That's the thing about governing with an iron fist.

It works only so long as you have an iron fist.


With Cuomo's iron fist diminished by Moreland - with him now a national punchline courtesy of Jon Stewart, with him forced into hiding so that he can avoid press questions about Moreland, with his ability to talk "ethics" or create any other commissions permanently altered by what happened with Moreland - he cannot govern in a second term the way he did in his first term.

I'd rather him thrown from office and perp-walked to prison, of course.

Nothing would be more deserving for Sheriff Andy.

But if the worst case scenario is, Cuomo is diminished in power and stature for a second term and the legislature is emboldened to push back on him, well, that's still not too bad.

Governor Cuomo Remains In Hiding For A Third Straight Day (UPDATED - 10:00 AM)

State of Politics:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in New York City, with nothing public planned.

When will the governor face the public and explain himself on the Moreland/NY Times story?

He kept out of sight yesterday too, instead issuing press release after press release about everything in the world except Moreland.

Is he going to stay hidden for the rest of the summer, then re-emerge in September and claim the Moreland mess is old news, he's focused on the "now"!

Is he hoping people are just going to forget about the whole thing and leave him alone?

Is he in denial about the whole thing?

I don't know what the idea behind Cuomo's strategy for dealing with this is, but he's only going to be able to remain hidden for so long before he becomes a national punchline, much like his beloved Common Core.

You know, the "tough as nails" governor who can dish it out but can't take it.

The sheriff who rode into Albany to "clean up" the cesspool but made things much, much worse.

And no matter what he does about the public and the press, one person who will not be deterred by games is the US Attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara.

Bharara sent that message to Sheriff Andy yesterday.

So stay hidden all you want, Andy - you'll have to surface eventually and deal with the heat and if you've got legal problems because of your Moreland conduct, hiding at Billy Joel's house isn't going to save you.

UPDATED - 10:00 AM: Turns out Governor Cuomo is already a national punchline, courtesy of Jon Stewart:

The questions surrounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration's alleged meddling in a corruption probe has officially become a late-night punchline.

Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" took on Cuomo's role in its lead segment Thursday, where host Jon Stewart roasted Cuomo's marked shift on the independence of the Moreland Commission, which he created last year with the broad charge to investigate public corruption in New York.

Stewart played a clip of an interview with Cuomo at the beginning of the probe, saying the commission had the ability to look at his or anyone else's operations. He contrasted that with Cuomo's office's more-recent comments to The New York Times -- that the panel couldn't have investigated him because of conflict-of-interest concerns.

"You know that's (expletive) ridiculous, right?," Stewart asked. "You know the I-made-it, I-can-do-what-I-want-with-it excuse only works for George Lucas, right?""

More from Stewart:

"It turns out Gov. Cuomo may be like the boss at work that says, 'Yeah, no, we'll play hoops at lunch. You can go hard.' And then when Jimmy from accounting blocks his shot and drives the lane, he's like, 'Hey, you're not allowed to touch the ball because I started the game.'"

 And it also turns out that Cuomo's already arguing that the Moreland Times story is "old news":

Rather than taking questions on the report, the Cuomo administration points to a 13-page response it wrote to the Times. Officials also claim many of the facts in the story had already been reported by other outlets, making it old news. 

 That didn't take long.

Cuomo Remains In Hiding After NY Times Moreland Story

Governor Cuomo was supposed to appear at a fundraiser last night:

Cuomo slated to appear at Bronx County Dems dinner tonight, a public event. Info here: pic.twitter.com/Qxr3DnRFDG
— Blake Zeff (@blakezeff) July 23, 2014

But after the NY Times ran their Moreland tampering story, this happened:

.@NYGovCuomo cancels only public appearance of day. #inhiding
— Bill O'Reilly (@wfbor) July 23, 2014

State of Politics reported the following in their morning update:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public schedule. (This changed late last night, he was supposed to be in NYC).

Cuomo's been sending out all kinds of announcements about everything other than Moreland, as shown by this Colin Campbell tweet:

EMPTY THE HATCHES http://t.co/HGm9jnBH73 http://t.co/fX4rRa2dJC http://t.co/wyJvGuvs9H http://t.co/Ta601rkSYM http://t.co/sE3rEwUAoU
— Colin Campbell (@BKcolin) July 23, 2014

But there have been no personal appearances by the governor, no chance that he'll face the press and take any questions about Moreland in the near term.

I sent the following tweets to him after another one of his announcements:

.@NYGovCuomo Who's we? You've been in hiding since the NY Times Moreland story ran yesterday morning.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) July 24, 2014

.@NYGovCuomo You canceled an appearance last night, have no public schedule today. How long you plan on hiding?
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) July 24, 2014

.@NYGovCuomo Because you MUST face press & answer questions about your actions in Moreland. You can't hide forever.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) July 24, 2014

When does he finally emerge and face public scrutiny?

It's an election year, so he can't remain hidden forever.

Though I bet he'd like to do just that.

Bharara Reiterates He's Taking Moreland Investigations Wherever The Evidence Leads

This sounds like a reply from US Attorney Preet Bharara to Governor Cuomo's thinly-veiled message to Bharara that was in the Times yesterday, the 13 page "response" to the Times story about Cuomo's Moreland tampering in which Cuomo restated that he couldn't tamper with what was already his:

ALBANY -- U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara vowed that he has the “fearlessness and independence” needed to investigate Albany corruption as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is accused of interfering with his own corruption commission.

“If other people aren’t going to do it, then we’re going to do it,” Bharara said on the PBS’ program “Charlie Rose."

“Our interest above all other interests is to make sure that the job is getting done, because we are the people who do our jobs,” Bharara said. The comments came after The New York Times reported several incidents of involvement in the corruption commission by Cuomo and his top aide. 

...

“We asked for and received -- we were voluntarily offered -- all the documents that have been collected by the commission so the work could continue," Bharara said. "Because if other people aren’t going to do it, then we’re going to do it. That’s our main mission.”

“We have the documents and we have the resources and we have the wherewithal and we have. I think, the kind of fearlessness and independence that is required to do difficult public corruption cases,” he said.

In short, Bharara will not be deterred by Cuomo's argument that there was no Moreland tampering because the governor cannot tamper with his own commission.

Did Cuomo Break The Law By Tampering With The Moreland Commission?

The answer is, maybe:

Cuomo's camp contends his office had the right to guide the panel under the language of the 1907 Moreland Act, which allows the governor to investigate any executive branch agency or related entity. While past governors have used the statute to examine the inner workings of government and specific industries, it does not give the governor power to directly investigate the Legislature.

But Cuomo's public corruption panel, created a year ago and scrapped in March in exchange for a reduced package of ethics reforms tucked into this year's state budget deal, was special: By allowing Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to give the lawyers who served as commissioners the powers of deputy attorneys general, Cuomo argued that he had created a body that could look into the scandal-scarred Legislature.

It's a tactic that legal scholars and others contend effectively stripped the executive branch of its lawful ability to steer the panel.

"This entity was never a Moreland Commission — it was a hybrid," Richard Brodsky, a former assemblyman and senior fellow at the public policy organization Demos. "Part of it was a Moreland Commission; part of it was an attorney general investigation. ... These folks had a legal obligation to make independent judgments and not do what they were told."

...

Former Republican Attorney General Dennis Vacco said it was "improper" for Schwartz to get involved in the commission's activities, and believes Schneiderman should have played a more involved role.

"It appeared to me at the time (the panel was announced) that Schneiderman was a partner in this and had appointments on it in order for them to have the clout of a prosecutor," Vacco said Wednesday. "... Because these were his deputies, Schneiderman had a greater responsibility to the investigations than just a passive appointee to the Moreland Commission. He had an obligation to effectively manage them and their investigations. ... If they were being thwarted, he had an obligation to speak up."

Will Cuomo or his aides face criminal charges for tampering?

Even considering the hybrid nature of this Moreland panel, Albany Law School professor Vincent Bonventre said Cuomo and his aides likely won't face legal repercussions for simply trying to steer its work.

"Politics is a lot about giving and taking and compromising and making deals," Bonventre said. "If we're talking just about that, there's no criminal conduct. If on the other hand what the evidence shows is that a politician made a deal to cover up evidence of political corruption that is criminality, then you'd have sufficient evidence for an obstruction of justice charge and other kinds of charges having to do with political corruption."

So it seems that unless Bharara decides to investigate further why Cuomo and his aides put the kibbosh on subpoenas to entities tied to the governor and finds criminality there or if he finds a quid pro quo deal to cover up evidence of legislative criminality in return for, say, an on-time budget, the very act of putting the kibbosh on the subpoenas doesn't necessarily put Cuomo or his aides in legal jeopardy.

That doesn't mean he's not hurt by the scandal already.

From now on, any time he tries to talk about integrity, people are going to laugh at him.

From now on, any time he tries to create another "independent commission" on anything (and remember, he loves commissions), people are going to laugh at him.

From now on, any time he talks about being the most transparent governor in the history of New York, people are going to laugh at him.

And this scandal diminishes whatever chances he had at making a White House run - in fact, even if Bharara decides not to pick up the investigative trail that Moreland couldn't, it's no bet some in the national press won't if Cuomo decides to run for president.

That's where I think things stand right now.

Of course that all changes if Bharara is not only following up on the leads Moreland found on the legislature, but also the ones they couldn't follow on the executive or he finds evidence of a quid pro quo deal between Cuomo and some member of the legislature to cover up corruption in return for something in the budget that Cuomo wanted.

No matter what happens, we now have a governor with a publicly sullied reputation who had to cancel a personal appearance last night because he didn't have the courage to face the press and take questions on the Moreland scandal.

This does not bode well for Cuomo's re-election campaign or, if he wins, his second term as governor.

The Cuomo we saw in the first term, the swift operator who bullied his way over and through people to get his way on pretty much everything he wanted, is now gone.

Now we have a governor in hiding, loath to make personal appearances lest he be forced to face the press and have to go on record about his conduct in the Moreland mess.

Oldie But Goodie: Cuomo's Moreland Commercial

Says right there, he appointed an "independent commission."

The NY Times report from this morning showed beyond any reasonable doubt that there was nothing "independent" about it: 

With Albany rocked by a seemingly endless barrage of scandals and arrests, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo set up a high-powered commission last summer to root out corruption in state politics. It was barely two months old when its investigators, hunting for violations of campaign-finance laws, issued a subpoena to a media-buying firm that had placed millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements for the New York State Democratic Party.

The investigators did not realize that the firm, Buying Time, also counted Mr. Cuomo among its clients, having bought the airtime for his campaign when he ran for governor in 2010.

Word that the subpoena had been served quickly reached Mr. Cuomo’s most senior aide, Lawrence S. Schwartz. He called one of the commission’s three co-chairs, William J. Fitzpatrick, the district attorney in Syracuse.

“This is wrong,” Mr. Schwartz said, according to Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose account was corroborated by three other people told about the call at the time. He said the firm worked for the governor, and issued a simple directive:

“Pull it back.”

The subpoena was swiftly withdrawn. The panel’s chief investigator explained why in an email to the two other co-chairs later that afternoon.

“They apparently produced ads for the governor,” she wrote.

The pulled-back subpoena was the most flagrant example of how the commission, established with great ceremony by Mr. Cuomo in July 2013, was hobbled almost from the outset by demands from the governor’s office.

Gee, I wonder if Cuomo used Buying Time to make the Moreland ad?

Cuomo And His Aides Under Federal Investigation For Moreland Commission Meddling

That's one of the takeaways from the NY Times' extraordinary expose on Cuomo's Moreland Commission meddling that appeared today:

The commission developed a list of promising targets, including a lawmaker suspected of using campaign funds to support a girlfriend in another state and pay tanning-salon bills. The panel also highlighted activities that it saw as politically odious but perfectly legal, like exploiting a loophole to bundle enormous campaign contributions.

But a three-month examination by The New York Times found that the governor’s office deeply compromised the panel’s work, objecting whenever the commission focused on groups with ties to Mr. Cuomo or on issues that might reflect poorly on him.

Ultimately, Mr. Cuomo abruptly disbanded the commission halfway through what he had indicated would be an 18-month life. And now, as the Democratic governor seeks a second term in November, federal prosecutors are investigating the roles of Mr. Cuomo and his aides in the panel’s shutdown and are pursuing its unfinished business.

Before its demise, Mr. Cuomo’s aides repeatedly pressured the commission, many of whose members and staff thought they had been given a once-in-a-career chance at cleaning up Albany. As a result, the panel’s brief existence — and the writing and editing of its sole creation, a report of its preliminary findings — was marred by infighting, arguments and accusations. Things got so bad that investigators believed a Cuomo appointee was monitoring their communications without their knowledge. Resignations further crippled the commission. In the end, the governor got the Legislature to agree to a package of ethics reforms far less ambitious than those the commission had recommended — a result Mr. Cuomo hailed as proof of the panel’s success.

If this is what the Times could get through interviews and emails, you can imagine what the US attorney can get about Cuomo's meddling through subpoena.

And Preet Bharara sounds like that's exactly where he going with his investigation:

Mr. Bharara, the United States attorney, was deeply troubled. In his testimony at the commission’s public hearing in September, he had encouraged it to act aggressively, stand tough and safeguard their independence.

Now, some Moreland officials were concerned their work could wind up in the trash.

On April 9, Mr. Bharara and the head of his public-corruption unit met with the two remaining co-chairmen, Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Williams.

Mr. Bharara was “laser-locked on the shenanigans from the second floor,” one attendee said. The prosecutor noted that the commission had been formed in response to the series of cases his office had brought against lawmakers — and observed how ironic it was that he was now looking into whether the governor had shut down investigations out of political expediency.

The next morning, in an appearance on WNYC radio, Mr. Bharara assailed the governor for shutting down the panel. It was an extraordinary rebuke.

Even as Mr. Bharara spoke, he said, his investigators were on their way to box up and cart off the commission’s files. Soon after, he directed Mr. Cuomo’s office to preserve records related to its own involvement with the panel.

I bet Bharara is going right at the REBNY and "Buying Time" subpoena meddling the Times article details.

Same goes for the Committee To Save New York donors list, which Cuomo kept under wraps and wouldn't let the Moreland Commission go near.

It's clear from the Times piece that Cuomo and his top aides did everything they could to obstruct Moreland Commission investigations into anything or anybody with connections to the governor himself.

Bharara picked up the Moreland records and those records will yield little investigative material into the governor's known donors, like REBNY, and the unknown ones, like the donors who gave to Cuomo's Committee To Save New York PAC.

But there will be a map of executive branch interference that Bharara can follow and investigate on his own.

What seems to matter most here is how far Preet Bharara wants to take his investigation into Cuomo's and Cuomo's aides interference into Moreland.

If he decides to follow all the leads that the Moreland Commission did not take because of Cuomo administration interference, that could spell a lot of trouble for Sheriff Andy Cuomo, the politician who rode into Albany claiming he would clean up corruption but who, in the end, just added to the rot.

That one Moreland Commission member said Bharara seems "laser-locked on the shenanigans from the second floor" (i.e., the governor's office) suggests Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has some trouble on his hands.

Al D'Amato Says Rob Astorino Needs To Apologize For Calling Christie And Cuomo Corrupt

Talk about ironic - the corrupt governors of New York and New Jersey getting defense from a corrupt former senator of New York:

Republican former Sen. Al D’Amato — a key GOP ally for Gov. Andrew Cuomo — called on GOP candidate for governor Rob Astorino to apologize to both the incumbent Democrat and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie after remarks made this morning on the radio.

“I strongly urge Rob Astorino to apologize for calling two distinguished Governors, Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo, corrupt. With little resources to mount a serious campaign and with dwindling support, Rob Astorino isn’t in the position to be picking fights and doing gimmicky press conferences. He should go out and show us that his campaign is not a ‘lost cause.’”

Astorino in an interview with Fred Dicker this morning knocked Christie for suggesting his race against Cuomo was going to result in a landslide defeat, saying the New Jersey Republican should resign as head of the Republican Governors Association if he won’t help elect Republicans.

Astorino suggested that Cuomo and Christie have a “handshake” deal related to the George Washington Bridge entry lane closure controversy. 

Later, Astorino doubled down in his criticism of Christie and Cuomo:

Astorino said he had a good relationship with Christie, but “my take is maybe it’s inconvenient to come over the bridge to New York to help a Republican candidate for governor here. That’s his call, whether he wants to or not, but as RGA chair he has governors and candidates who have a chance to win ... and it’s incumbent upon him to help all of us.”

He also suggested that Gov. Cuomo was in cahoots with Christie in the Bridgegate scandal that has cast a shadow over Christie’s presidential ambitions.

“I don’t know if there’s a connection between him and Andrew Cuomo on Bridgegate, or if Cuomo has something that he’s holding back, information that could be damaging to the governor,” Astorino speculated.

“Whatever Gov. Christie knew or didn’t know is probably the same for Gov. Cuomo. And if there’s anything being held back that Gov. Cuomo knows and if he’s holding that over Gov. Christie’s head, I don’t know.”

Astorino made his comments at a joint press conference with Democratic Primary gadfly Zephyr Teachout, to highlight what they called the "growing corruption crisis in Albany" under Cuomo.

I think this is a good line of attack here, especially considering that Christie was the one who launched the attack first by saying yesterday that he doesn't deal in "lost causes" when he was asked why the Republican Governors Association wasn't helping Astorino.

That Christie and Cuomo have Al D'amato defending them over allegations of corruption and cover-up, well, it just doesn't get any better than that, does it?

Rob Astorino: Cuomo May Be Helping Christie Cover Up Bridgegate Scandal

Rob Astorino today outside Tweed courthouse, reacting to statements made by Chris Christie that he, as head of the Republican National Governors Association, won't help Astorino in his race against Cuomo:

At a press conference in Manhattan Tuesday, Astorino said, “If Gov. Christie is unable to help a Republican candidate for governor, then maybe he should consider stepping down as chairman of the RGA. That's his job.”

...

Astorino said he had a good relationship with Christie, but “my take is maybe it’s inconvenient to come over the bridge to New York to help a Republican candidate for governor here. That’s his call, whether he wants to or not, but as RGA chair he has governors and candidates who have a chance to win ... and it’s incumbent upon him to help all of us.”

He also suggested that Gov. Cuomo was in cahoots with Christie in the Bridgegate scandal that has cast a shadow over Christie’s presidential ambitions.

“I don’t know if there’s a connection between him and Andrew Cuomo on Bridgegate, or if Cuomo has something that he’s holding back, information that could be damaging to the governor,” Astorino speculated.

“Whatever Gov. Christie knew or didn’t know is probably the same for Gov. Cuomo. And if there’s anything being held back that Gov. Cuomo knows and if he’s holding that over Gov. Christie’s head, I don’t know.”

Astorino made his comments at a joint press conference with Democratic Primary gadfly Zephyr Teachout, to highlight what they called the "growing corruption crisis in Albany" under Cuomo.

I have already speculated the very same here at Perdido Street School blog (see here and here.)

It would be great if Cuomo got some scrutiny for his actions (and lack of action) in the Bridgegate matter.

In addition, Astorino, along with Zephyr Teachout, called out some more Cuomo corruption:

Republican candidate for governor Rob Astorino and Democratic hopeful Zephyr Teachout in a joint news conference on Tuesday knocked Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s record on ethics and his decision to shutdown the Moreland Commission investigating the Legislature.

The unusual joining of forces for Astorino and Teachout at the Tweed Courthouse in New York City comes as both candidates struggle to raise their name recognition with voters as polls show they continue to be largely unknown.

Both Teachout and Astorino called on Cuomo to stop airing television ads touting the state’s business climate, which is being paid for by the Empire State Development Corp.

And they criticized Cuomo’s closure of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, a panel he set up and then disbanded in April after state lawmakers agreed to an ethics package in the state budget.

Astorino and Teachout should hit Cuomo again and again and again on ethics - that is where he, like his partner in crime Chris Christie, is most vulnerable.

Teachout And Astorino To Make Joint Appearance To Hammer Cuomo On His Lack Of Ethics

Nick Reisman at State of Politics:

Astorino, meanwhile, due to make a joint appearance with Zephyr Teachout this morning at the Tweed Courthouse — an eyebrow raising event that could garner both campaigns more attention during a relatively slow summer.

Teachout, a Fordham law professor, is challenging Cuomo on the Democratic primary ballot (Her petitions are being challenged by the governor’s re-election campaign).
The joint appearance comes as both Astorino and Teachout try to raise their name recognition with voters and gain the attention of Cuomo.

Ken Lovett in a tweet:

source: GOP gov candidate Rob Astorino and Democratic primary hopeful Zephyr Teachout will appear together to bash @nygovcuomo on ethics
— ken lovett (@klnynews) July 22, 2014

Both Teachout and Astorino have their work cut out for them.

Cuomo has a big lead on Astorino in the latest Siena poll and Astorino isn't registering much with voters yet.

Meanwhile Teachout has to survive a challenge to her ballot petitions and then start to get some traction with liberals and progressives angry at Cuomo for his corporate-friendly policies.

Still, it's good to see Teachout and Astorino join forces today to hammer Cuomo on his lack of ethics.

If there's any opening these two have to go at Cuomo, it's over ethics and corruption.

That is, unless Preet Bharara decides to go at him first:

Eagerly waiting for Cuomo Indictment....U.S. Issues Subpoena in Inquiry on Cuomo’s Closing of Moreland Commission http://t.co/Gjf05WPcEK
— Peter Osroff (@POsroff) July 18, 2014

If Christie Doesn't "Invest In Lost Causes," Why Is He Running For President?

From Politics on the Hudson:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie offered a harsh assessment of Rob Astorino’s candidacy for New York governor, saying tonight that the Republican Governors Association won’t “invest in lost causes.”

Christie heads the association and met with Astorino, a fellow Republican, last November in Arizona, when Astorino was first starting to seriously consider a run for governor.

“We don’t pay for landslides and we don’t invest in lost causes,” Christie said during a fundraising trip to Connecticut, according to NJ.com.

Oh, snap, Chris!

That is so cold!

And if true, why are you running for president?

Because between Bridgegate, the Sandy funds mess, the investigation into how Port Authority money wound up getting used for the Pulaski and the various other Port Authority scandals involving your cronies and conflicts of interest, your "cause" running for the White House is about as lost as Astorino's running against Cuomo.

Just saying.

How Quickly New York Has Soured On The Common Core

Dave Weigel at Slate reacting to the Siena poll that found 49% of New Yorkers want Common Core implementation stopped - including 53% of independents:

The new Siena poll doesn't contain many surprises—Andrew Cuomo easily leads his re-election race, challenger Zephyr Teachout has yet to register, etc. It's really just the question, and answers, about the Common Core education curriculum that surprised me.

In a very short time, opposition to Common Core has evolved from a fringe Republican position that blue-staters laugh at to a position that clearly wins out in blue New York. When independents break against something by a 14-point margin, politicians generally look awkwardly for the escape hatches.

Core supporters and proponents continue to act as if CCSS critics and opponents are on the fringe, but increasingly even the most ardent Core proponent and shill has to see how quickly the opposition to the Core is mounting in New York on the entire political spectrum.

Democrats support the Common Core 47%-40%.

That's the best the Core supporters have here in New York.

Independents oppose it 53%-39% and Republicans oppose it 60%-25%.

Given the trajectory of Core support over the past year, I don't think it's unreasonable to predict that it will be underwater even with Dems in six months or so.

And as Weigel notes, when you start to see independents oppose some program or reform by a 14 point margin, politicians start to bail on that program or reform.

I'm betting even the shrillest of the Common Core shills has to be looking at this Siena poll today and thinking "It's over..."

Edu-Entrepreneurs And Lobbyists Flood Cuomo's "Smart Schools" Forum

Not a surprise - that "Smart Schools Commission meeting" I blogged about earlier was filled with edu-entrepreneurs and corporate lobbyists looking to feed off the public trough:

Rather than being filled solely with educators, many of the roughly 100 people who came to a Smart Schools Public Symposium earlier Monday were lobbyists and representatives of telecoms, networking companies, software and hardware providers as well as other businesses that service the Internet and its digital economy.

That’s because the symposium came amid the knowledge that voters this fall will decide on a $2 billion bond referendum which Gov. Andrew Cuomo has gotten on the ballot to, if it passes, modernize the state’s school buildings.

If the bond passes, these companies will be competing to equip schools with the latest broadband wiring and all that goes along with it.

And check out all the fun jargon, buzzwords and other bullshit Cuomo highlighted in his press release:

The Smart Schools Commission is charged with advising the State on how to best enhance teaching and learning through technology. The Governor instated the Commission in spring 2014 in order to reimagine New York’s public schools for the 21st Century. Access to advanced technology fosters a more interactive and personalized classroom experience while facilitating increased communication between parents, students, and teachers. Embracing innovation in education is an important step towards helping New York’s students gain the skills they need to succeed in the 21st Century economy.

...

The five experts highlighted to the Commission and community members the need and ability to: enrich the in-classroom learning experience by incorporating the use of tablets, laptops and smartphones; extend preparation for student instruction by using web-based software accessible at home, increase communication between the instructor and student’s guardian; provide more descriptive academic progress reporting; and to support these changes, build a robust network of high-speed broadband and wi-fi connectivity throughout New York’s public schools and communities. Challenges that the panel encouraged the Commission to address include the difficulty of providing broadband access to rural regions of Upstate New York and the initial implementation of new technology in the classroom.

In short, lots of yummy yummy taxpayer-provided funds for Cuomo's corporate criminal friends to gobble up - all so that we can envision and create "The Classroom of Tomorrow" today.

Sounds like the kind of claptrap I used to see hawked in "Tomorrowland" in Disney World when my parents took me there in the 70's.

Here's an idea - how about we create the "Classroom of Yesterday" when students used to read books, engage in discussions with peers and teachers and, golly, not stare at a freaking computer screen all day?

Nahh - no money to be made off that.

Because that's what this is all about, of course - funding a whole bunch of giveaways to Cuomo's corporate buddies and edu-entrepreneur friends while making believe he's "improving schools"!

Cuomo's Dumb Schools Initiative Meets Later In The Week

From State of Politics:

At 1 p.m., the first meeting about the broadband availability enhancement component of the Smart Schools Initiative will be held, Blue Room, second floor, state Capitol.

Seems like Cuomo's "Smart Schools Initiative" could have made Frederick Hess' 10 School Reform Phrases That Should Trigger Your BS Detector list:

Education is filled with jargon, buzzwords, and BS. I've had a lot of fun over the years skewering the inanity that gets bandied about in education research and professional development. Education policy and school reform are rife with their own vapid vocabulary.

It's worth flagging this stuff. Doing so reminds us that fatuous phrases don't make problems go away.  It helps puncture sugarplum visions fueled by hot air. Left unchallenged, pat phrases allow wishful thinking to stand in for messy realities. After all, these fatuous phrases are pervasive. Here are 10 phrases that, when heard, should cause listeners to ask the speaker to explain what he or she means, using words that actually mean something.

"Smart" as applied to "regulation" made it to #8 on the list:

8. "Smart regulation." (You know, as opposed to those championing "dumb regulation." A similar caution also applies to calls for "smart accountability," "smart teacher evaluation," or "smart" anything else. Attaching an adjective doesn't make problems go away.)

Let's add a similar caution to calls for a "Smart Schools Initiative." 

As Hess noted, education is filled with jargon, buzzwords and bullshit.

I would add, education in New York during the Cuomo/Tisch/King Era is REALLY filled with jargon, buzzwords and bullshit.